Among the Moon and Stars
by RinnyTan
Summary: Crossover and Alternate Universe. Accounts the story of Persona 3 from a different perspective: a new character that was part of Akihiko and Shinjiro's orphanage. What role shall she play in SEES's pursuit of eliminating the Dark Hour? Chain Chronicle characters will be Haruaki and Toka.
1. I Wish

Author's purpose: This fanfic has been developing in my mind ever since I played P3P, which has been on and off for a few years. I still haven't finished the game yet (those vision quests doe), but I already know how the game ends, just haven't experienced it for myself, lol. I've been crazed about Shin Megami Tensei since being introduced to the series through the anime adaption of P4. I chose to write this fanfic for the P3 storyline though because I thoroughly enjoyed the game's storytelling.

Credits to Nardack (from pixiv) for the cover image. I wanted to have a visual for the new character to help readers imagine her, so I'll be basing descriptions of her off this illustration. It's really a wonderful picture C:

*Update 5/25/15: Decided to make this fanfic a crossover with Chain Chronicle, a mobile game app (also for the Playstation Vita, but I think that's only out in Japan). The story is awesome, the graphics are amazing (Nardack happens to be one of the gazillion artists for the game!), and an abundance of famous Japanese voice actors voice the 200+ characters. I highly recommend it, and when I get deeper into my fanfic, I hope it will convince some of you guys to try it out.*

Anyways, this is the first story I'm writing on this account (I used to have another story on a different account but I forgot the login *laughs nervously* it was 5 years ago, shh). Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy reading my twist of the Persona 3 universe~

* * *

I Wish…

_Akihiko_

Shrill cries. A girl. The echoing sound of children coughing. A dark cloud seethes from the building, replaced quickly by the source of the smoke: a raging fire enveloping the orphanage. His home.

The boy besides Akihiko dashes forward and into the burning building, leaving a trail of dusty sand in the air. Inside, fragments of his desperate voice could be heard "… I… where… Miki!"

There is a panic. The older children try their best to console the younger ones, who have all resorted to crying in the middle of all the commotion. They look up from the sobbing children and towards the flames, their eyes dashed with a painful sorrow.

Adults are either huddling the children away from the wafting smoke or throwing small buckets of water at the unwavering inferno. One tottering and weeping child stops an adult and points towards the fire. She kneels and listens to the child. Quickly, she gets up and stops the nearest male adult, informs him of the situation, and sets him running off into the crumbling building.

The structure was slowly toppling over. Despite the enormous amount of heat being emitted from the flames, the woman was on the floor trembling, holding the child close as he cried and cried.

Finally, in the midst of the sound of the burning aged wood, there came the sound of faint coughing. The man reappears from the building, and in each arm is a child, the boy who had run in foolishly without thinking and a girl who had been trapped in the flames. The sides of his yellow apron had been seared by fire. Some parts were still ignited, leaving dark smoky patches. He falls to his knees a safe distance from the building, still coughing and gasping for air. Two women and a man rush over and pick them up from the ground.

The girl's white dress had become an unrecognizable gray, having been covered in soot. Embers had burned craters through the soft fabric. She is motionless in the woman's arms. The other woman struggles to keep the boy still, who is kicking and screaming in-between coughs, crying out "Mi… ki… no…!"

The building caves in.

_..._

Akihiko awakens from the familiar scene. He turns his head over to look at the digital clock besides his bed. He still has a few minutes before his alarm clock will ring. As Akihiko reaches his arms over his head to stretch, he realizes his hands are shaking. Frowning, he clenches his rough hands into tight fists, and the trembles dissipate.

However, the lingering thoughts in his mind are more difficult to shake off. The thoughts of guilt and feeling powerless, being stunned and unable to move. No, those thoughts never left him, ever since he lost Miki to that fire.

* * *

And that's the first chapter~ It's more of a teaser of my writing style and my take on how the orphanage fire went down. The new character will be introduced in the next chapter, but that doesn't mean this chapter was for nothing! *laughs evilly*


	2. Recall

Side note, I apologize if you notice a lot of grammar issues or whatnot. I stayed up all night to write this chapter to try to reset my sleeping schedule. College has made me into a night owl of sort, haha. I'm releasing the chapter after only a few hours of on and off editing because it's just been so long since my first update. I'll be revisiting the chapter for a few days to really smooth it out. Either way, I hope you still enjoy my writing!

I should have noted this in the first chapter, but this AU occurs in a world with the male protagonist, right after Ken is introduced (7/25). I'm going to stick with the name Arisato Minato because I still think it's cooler than the name he gets in the P3 movies. Opinions. Yeah. Chapter one was sort of a prelude anyways, so the real story is starting… now!

* * *

Recall

_Akihiko_

_7/26 Sunday_

Only five minutes have passed since leaving the dorm, and Akihiko had already worked up enough sweat to drench the whole back of his plain white sleeveless tee. There was not a single cloud in the sky to block out the heated rays of the sun. The air hung still and heavy without any sign of wind, making Akihiko struggle to breathe as he jogged through the streets of Tatsumi Port Island.

The humidity was formidable. Akihiko pushed himself as hard as he could, but all the sweating made him dehydrated much quicker than usual. When he reached Naganaki Shrine, Akihiko was out of breath and desperately needed water. He went up the stairs to the shrine to find a seat on a bench, hopefully in the shade. He was greeted by a man sweeping away leaves by the top of the stairs. Still breathing heavily, Akihiko returned the greeting and staggered past the playground to the benches. He sat there with his head leaned back and eyes closed.

A few minutes went by, and Akihiko's energy was slowly coming back. When his heart rate steadied, he opened his eyes to see the man that was sweeping the floor walking towards him. The man came up to Akihiko and offered him a bottle of water. "Take it" he said.

Reaching out, Akihiko took the bottle, and with big gulps he quickly drained the whole bottle. After a satisfied sigh, Akihiko said "Thanks, you really saved me."

The man had already returned to sweeping and gave no reply. Akihiko examines the man, realizing he's never seen such a person at the shrine before. The man had white hair reaching a bit past the start of his neck, with a small section of hair in the back that was slightly longer and able to reach his shoulder. His bangs came together and reached between his crimson red eyes. He wore a dark brown kimono under a light tan haori with three spikes on top of a rectangle-shaped metal guard going down on each of his shoulders, a peculiar detail.

Akihiko looked at himself, wearing basketball shorts and a T-shirt, and back at the strangely covered man on such a sweltering hot summer day. The contrast between the two were astounding. Furthermore, the man showed no sign of sweat on his face. His expression showed he was at peace at the task at hand.

"Hey" called out Akihiko. "I can't imagine you're not sweating under all those layers on a day like this."

The man looked up from the ground and gave Akihiko an ever so slight smile. "I'm used to it" he said simply, and continued working around the leaves.

Getting up from the bench, Akihiko said "I've never seen you here before. Are you new around here?"

Without pausing this time, the man replied "The monk that tended to this shrine let me stay with him when I was without a place to live. He died in a car accident about six months ago. I've been taking care of all his former duties ever since."

Akihiko immediately felt guilty about his question and stammered an apology. "I-I'm sorry, I hadn't known all this time…"

The man chuckled, saying "It's fine. I can tell you're not a frequent visitor of the shrine anyways. I can't recall seeing you before either." He leaned the broom next to the stairs and surveyed his work. "A job well done" the man concluded. He looked over at Akihiko, still standing by the benches. He bowed, and said "Have a good rest of your day." The man then headed back towards the shrine.

Akihiko watched the man disappear into the back of the building. He stood there for only a moment before heading down the stairs. Jogging back to the dorm, Akihiko couldn't help but wonder about the man, particularly about his strange attire.

_7/27 Monday_

The humidity from the last day continued onto the next. The moment Akihiko stepped outside, he felt his energy sap from his legs. He sighed and decided against jogging for the day. Walking up the stairs back to his room, he bumps into a yawning Fuuka coming down the stairs.

Fuuka immediately apologizes, saying "Oh, I didn't see you there Akihiko-senpai."

"It's no big deal" said Akihiko, rather surprised she was awake so early. "Heading out somewhere?"

Nodding, she says excitedly "I'm out to go shopping for ingredients. I want to cook a nice lunch for everyone today. Minato said I've improved quite a lot."

Yikes. By now, everyone in the dorm knows it's a hazard every time Fuuka steps into the kitchen. "Uuuh" starts Akihiko. "I'm sure you have, but I've got a pretty strict meal regimen…"

"One meal couldn't hurt, right?" questions Fuuka.

Akihiko gulped and thought, _a normal meal wouldn't but…_ He selected his next few words carefully; he didn't want to hurt her feelings. "Well… breaking from my schedule could start a habit of deterring from my meal plan and... might eventually throw me off completely."

Fuuka pondered for a moment. Akihiko held his breath. Miraculously, she agreed. "Hmmm, you're right. It would be best to not start a bad habit" said Fuuka.

Akihiko mentally sighed in relief. Fuuka starts to walk past him when Akihiko quickly added, "I can at the very least buy the ingredients for you. That way I'll still be a part of the lunch in some way."

"Oh no senpai, you don't have to" said Fuuka, shaking her head.

"Come on", Akihiko urged. "It's the least I can do."

They bickered back and forth, Akihiko remaining persistent. Unable to dissuade him, Fuuka eventually gives in. Akihiko gives himself a mental pat on the back, though felt guilty for avoiding Fuuka's earnest attempts at cooking.

Fuuka wrote out a list of ingredients and proudly presented it to Akihiko. He's no master chef, but when he skimmed over the list, he could already tell it was going to be a bizarre combination of ingredients.

"Alright," Akihiko says wearily, "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Fuuka wished him a safe trip, and out the door he went.

On the way to the grocery store, Akihiko hears his stomach growl. He recalls that he hadn't eaten anything yet. Mumbling something about how his schedule has been thrown off already, he decides to stop by the Beef Bowl Shop first.

By the time Akihiko reached the strip mall, his hunger was nagging uncontrollably, and his shirt weighed heavy with sweat. Wiping at his forehead as he walked up the stairs, he spots a familiar face, who grunts at the sight of Akihiko. Jokingly, Akihiko says, "Didn't know you woke up so early to come here, Shinji."

Shinji, without looking directly at him, frowns. "And what does it matter to you?"

"Hey, our meeting was a coincidence, relax" Akihiko says, defensively.

"Whatever", says Shinji. "Just get to doing what you were going to do."

Akihiko, ignoring Shinji's obvious irritation, says "What if I just want to have a chat with my childhood friend?"

"Look" said Shinji, making eye contact with Akihiko for the first time since the start of the conversation. "I don't want to deal with your bullshit right now." Immediately, he looks away. Shinji seemed anxious. His attention was being drawn elsewhere, and Akihiko saw it easily. Concerned, Akihiko asks, "What's wrong, Shinji?"

Shinji sighs and turns to lean his arms forward on the railing. "Your presence just ticks me off."

Akihiko was still not convinced, but he could see Shinji wasn't going to budge, as usual. It wasn't the first time his friend admitted his annoyance with Akihiko. "Well I'll be in the Beef Bowl Shop if you want to talk." He patted Shinji on the back, who remained silent and continued to refuse eye contact.

Stepping towards the shop, Akihiko turned to take one last look at his friend. Shinji was watching something closely. Following his line of sight, Akihiko sees a girl walking towards the stairs with a large bag of groceries. She walked slowly and attentively, unable to see directly in front of her with the overflowing bag in her arms obstructing her view.

Her appearance brought a flood of memories to Akihiko. Memories as a child. Memories of the orphanage. Memories of the four of them, him, Shinji, Miki, and...

"Is that..." he whispered.

When the girl finally reached the top of the stairwell, she swore under her breath. "Shinji!" she cried. "You better help me with all these groceries that's breaking my bac…"

Her voice trailed off. At that point, she had rested the groceries down on the floor and looked up to see Shinji was not alone. She froze. "Aki-tan…?"

"Yui?"

"Shit" said Shinji.

* * *

I feel like such an ass to end the chapter right there, LOL. Character introductions for the win!

Next chapter will definitely come out sooner than it took to release chapter 2. I'll try my best to crank out chapters before my next year of college takes over my life!


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